Culture Insider: New Year vacation in ancient China

Song Dynasty:

The paintings depict the folk customs during the Spring festival in ancient Song Dynasty. [Photo/Xinhua]

In the Song Dynasty, the lunar new year holiday was also 7 days like during the Tang Dynasty, but there was also 7 days off during the Lantern Festival (15th of the first lunar month).

There was a special benefit for local officials. They could enjoy their New Year holiday early from Dec 20th to Jan 20th of the Chinese lunar new year.

However, if you were a high official in the capital, you couldn't take a rest on the new year, and couldn't ask for leave. You had to dress formally and brave the snow to make your way to court in the wee hours. A grand new year celebration was waiting for you.

If you were a common person, then you would have a lot of fun during Spring Festival, as the Song Dynasty capital Kaifeng allowed people to "gamble" for three days. It was a kind of game played during commodity trading. All goods could be included in the gambling, and it might cost 10,000 yuan to buy only an orange if you lost at gambling.